DANCING THE SHIVA TANDAVA 
Lets take a look at yoga asana of Natarajasana. It is one of the most well-known (as well as most photographed) asanas today. Often it is called the "dancer" pose and demonstrated by balancing on one leg while drawing the opposite leg up and behind the spine with the arm, like a graceful ballet dancer. This is one beautiful and focused expression of Shiva energy… yet not the only one. In Indian art and figures, we frequently see a form of Shiva dancing wildly in a ring of flames. Our asana can also embody this variety of movement and expression. To understand a bit more about the energetic archetype of Shiva Nataraj will help to inspire our practice to deeper and more creative levels. The collective archetypal energy of Shiva Nataraj is the essence of polarizing change. His wild dance creates and destroys form and time, representing what is eternal amongst the inevitability of change; the natural phenomenon of all pulsing, oscillation, waves, spirals, rhythms and cycles. Gesturing wildly within a sphere of transformational flames, the four arms of Nataraj move lavishly and yieldingly in the river-like gestures of the dance of lasya. He sounds a dumaru, a drum counting out the rhythm of time. His left hand sparks with the flames of transformation. Another hand gestures the mudra of "have no fear" …encouraging us to stay the course. We are assured by this gesture that deep within the wildness abides immense peace. The last of his 4 hands gestures towards his strongly raised foot… a foot that stamps out the tandava, a dance of long cycles called yugas (approximately 26,000 Earth years) each with a purpose, an energy, an evolution of creation itself. "Look," he implies with this gesture, "all is impermanence, lose yourself in my wild dance and flames… transformation is close at hand." He is perched atop a crouching infant signifying the ascent out of ignorance to crystal clear awareness without mind impressions. Through the chaos of constant change and transformation, his face remains divinely serene, his eyes soft and meditative… the expression of dynamic stillness, a vast silent nucleus abiding in the flux and the flow. By thoughtfully, spontaneously and inquisitively practicing the asana of Natarajasana, we can invoke the energetic vedic archetype of Shiva into our cells. With the devotion to this powerful energy in Bali, its practice can be even more potent and intense. Shiva or as He is called here in Bali, "Siwa" is a part of daily life cycles and devotion. Invoking Shiva Nataraj energy through movement, mantra, prayer or meditation is to open your eyes fully into the face of transformation… to stay the course, to trust the tide even as the flames of change may "singe your skin. The energetic invocation of Shiva communicates to your cells and your fluid, that you are open to be inside of a process of change and willing to live it moment-by-moment as means for changing "form" - changing density - becoming bio-morphic in all senses of the word. Bio-morphic is the innovative and inherent ability of a living open system to change itself and all of its components to adapt and interact with its environment. Bio-morphic response draws upon all of the biological and cosmic consciousness of the ages and beyond, to create completely new possibilities not only for survival but for flourishing. Reenacting this cosmic matrix of Shiva Nataraj renders us "bio-morphic. It encourages the integration of both movement and stillness within us. We come assured that we can ride through times of intense change with the paradoxical serenity of wild Shiva's eternal presence living within us. Movement and Stillness, Wildness and Sheer Calm… it is in between the opposites where we can we discovery the natural connection between our Self and the Cosmos. OM NAMAH SHIVAYA Ateeka is teaching a Systemic Yoga Teacher Training Immersion in Bali From January 10 - 31, 2010. For more information on this and other Bali events with Ateeka and friends, please visit her website at www.ateeka-yoga.com
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